Cedric, Texas. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

Julian Bassett, a land promoter and town builder tried to pull the rug out from under the fledgling town of Ralls in 1911.

Bassett had already founded Crosbyton three years previously and hoped to secure the county seat by building the Crosbyton-South Plains Railroad - connecting Lubbock to Crosbyton. The railroad crossed John R. Ralls' ranch, and when Ralls revealed his plans to develop a town on the line, Bassett thwarted his plan by refusing to grant Ralls with a depot. Instead he developed the town of Cedric - a cluster of brick buildings (that never held a tenant) and a depot.

Ralls citizens freighted supplies from Cedric to their homes in Ralls, but in 1915 the Santa Fe Railroad bought the Crosbyton-South Plains Railroad and made the depot at Ralls a regular stop. Bassett threw in the towell and sold the Cedric depot (along with a few wooden sidewalks) to John Ralls who moved them all to his town.

All that's left of Cedric today is part of the concrete foundation of the former depot.

1920s Crosby County map showing Ralls
Cedric has long since disappeared from the map
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

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